Thank you for visiting the Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students homepage.

OELA awarded a new contract for the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) in September of 2013. The NCELA website can be accessed at: http://ncela.ed.gov. The toll free number to obtain resources or make technical assistance inquiries to NCELA is: 1-866-347-6864.

NCELA staff is currently in the process of refreshing the look of the website, checking links, and increasing accessibility and readability of resources, as well as adding new resources. You can look forward to new features in the coming months, such as newly designed pages with state-specific information, and a new resource library navigation system. We will be keeping you updated when new features go live, through NCELA Nexus, our new newsletter (see below). In the meantime, thank you for your help and patience while we refurbish the NCELA website!

If you have not already signed up for the NCELA listserv, we encourage you do so at http://ncela.ed.gov/listserv. In the meantime, please feel free to report any problems you identify by sending a message to askncela@leedmci.com. Again, thank you for your help and patience while we refurbish the NCELA website.

The mission of the Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA) is to provide national leadership to help ensure that English learners and immigrant students attain English proficiency and achieve academically.

The Office identifies major issues affecting the education of English learners and assists and supports state and local systemic reform efforts to improve the achievement of English learners.

The Assistant Deputy Secretary and Director of OELA serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary on Departmental matters related to the education of English learners.

Under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended the Office is responsible for:

Administering discretionary grant programs that (1) help English learners develop proficiency in English and meet high standards for academic achievement and (2) help teachers and other educational personnel meet high professional qualifications to better serve English learners;

Supporting research and evaluation studies to inform policy and technical assistance; and

Disseminating information about language instruction educational programs to meet the needs of English learners.